


Satisfaction

by chibixkadaj



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Comedy, Lighthearted Fic, M/M, Polyamory, Rival Relationship, Taeyong Is A Cat, Witches, Witches and their familiars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-23 06:50:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23440720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chibixkadaj/pseuds/chibixkadaj
Summary: Ten and Doyoung are rival witches: One, the master of horror whose spells come in all the colors of fall foliage, the other, the ruler of winter with icy magic that can heal any ailment. They've sworn to outdo each other, to hate each other until the end of time...or, maybe just until a cursed boy-turned-kitten taking on the role of 'familiar' gets swept up into their lives.
Relationships: Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Lee Taeyong, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lee Taeyong, Lee Taeyong/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten
Comments: 8
Kudos: 141
Collections: NCT OT3 Mood Board Fic Fest





	Satisfaction

Curiosity killed the cat. That’s what they say, anyway, but in Taeyong’s case it just landed him trapped in the arms of an enemy. 

Literally.

He mewled loudly and pushed with as much force as his tiny salt and pepper paws could manage, but the man known as Kim Doyoung wouldn’t let him go until they were back between the walls of what could only be his home. 

Taeyong hopped away from him indignantly, parading around with forceful steps and powerful cries. _‘Let me go you bastard!_ And maybe he’d overpowered this Kim Doyoung because no sooner did Taeyong start stomping around than Doyoung shuffled away, muttering something that little kitten ears couldn’t quite catch. _‘Success!_ Maybe? He was still working on that whole being fearsome thing--which was part of the reason why he’d picked the Master of the Season of Horror as his witch of choice--but maybe he’d gotten better at it than he thought.

Of course, all those hopeful thoughts were scattered away when Doyoung returned with a small saucer of warm milk and set it down on the floor. _’Damn.’_ Taeyong turned his nose up at it, sauntering in the opposite direction with his tail up high. 

Doyoung let out a hum. Taeyong didn’t want to stop, but the wonder of what his sworn enemy would say did slow him down a little bit. 

“It was so cold out but you don’t look like you’ve been chilled. That’s good. Ah, but,” he bent over and scooped Taeyong, who started crying again immediately on contact, into one arm. He grabbed the milk saucer too.“I should still get you checked over, shouldn’t I? Don’t cry, don’t cry.” 

Taeyong huffed. He’ll cry if he wants to! He’ll bite him too! Tiny fangs hardly broke past the second layer of skin and though Doyoung yelped in surprise, the scrunch of his nose wasn't out of anger. “Hey,” he chided softly. “That’s not very nice you know. Oh…” A thought twisted his features up the slightest bit. “You’re probably scared, aren’t you?”

_‘I’m not scared!’_ Taeyong wailed. _‘I want you to let me go you heathen! Let me go, let me go, let me go!’_

Doyoung set him down again, this time on top of an ice blue blanket. It’s...so fluffy. Taeyong’s half trimmed nails were getting caught on it as he stepped, but the way the fibers felt when they poked through between his toes was...nice… He walked in a small circle and then flopped onto his side, thinking that if he was stuck here right now, then maybe he should just make the most of it. 

His body lurched into the air slightly when Doyoung sat next to him. His phone open in one hand showed a blog post of text describing how to take care of a new cat. His brows pinched as he read closely and stayed screwed tight even when he set it down between them. “I know this will make you mad so I hope you’ll forgive me,” he huffed, carefully bringing his palm to Taeyong’s body in order to push him further back into the blanket. “Wish I could ask permission. I’m sorry, I hope you can trust me,” he added under his breath and that, strangely (though maybe not _so_ strangely), stopped Taeyong’s whining before he started it up again. Doyoung looks over his paws, running his fingers carefully over and between them before checking on his legs. He touched his ribs and lingered over his heart. It was beating so fast but that didn’t seem to surprise the black haired human too much. Then finally he cupped Taeyong’s small, fuzzy chin and looked into his eyes and ears. Once it was over, Doyoung’s hand lingered at the top of his head, venturing every so often to rub over his ears, too.

Oh no… Taeyong’s weakness. He lifted a paw to bat Doyoung’s hand away but...too good. It just felt too good. He let out a purr instead.

Doyoung chuckled slightly, leaving Taeyong bracing for whatever snide remark might come from him next. But all he received was a soft, “Thank you. I’m glad it didn’t seem to be so bad for you.”

He kept petting and Taeyong realized he really was screwed. Wasn’t he? He’d only meant to do a little reconnaissance and somehow ended up maybe adopted by the one man in the world he was told was the worst. Taeyong let out a sigh hard enough that his whole pepper-colored body deflated from it and he rolled until he was no longer facing Doyoung’s leg. 

What was he going to do? Maybe even more than that, what would Ten be doing without him? 

Taeyong let out a mewl of defeat. 

Doyoung soon stopped petting him and left the small bedroom to return to the just as small living space of his tiny, one story house. With him gone, Taeyong finally found the will to move again, if only to hop onto the dresser where the human had left his milk saucer. He...was hungry, and he lapped at it slowly until he had his fill. Glancing to the side, Taeyong noted just how many things looked precarious enough that they’d fall were he to walk past them. He let out a soft meow, contemplating until something sounded from outside the door. It piqued his interest more than the thought of causing destruction so he hopped off the dresser and padded his way over.

Standing at his table, Doyoung was elbows deep (somewhat literally) in preparing the ingredients he’d been out getting when Taeyong crossed his path. Currently, he was separating leaves and shaving bark to make what Taeyong assumed was witch hazel. Next to him, fresh lavender rested in a long glass vase but then to Taeyong’s surprise Doyoung paused and brought the whole thing to his freezer. Then he resumed his work with the hazel. Taeyong made his way to the kitchen, curious about what other things Doyoung was keeping in his refrigerator and icebox. _‘So weird.’_ That’s what Ten called Doyoung. Well, weird, and stuck up, and pompous, and many many other things. At least now Taeyong could confirm one for sure. 

His little pepper colored butt wiggled behind him, prepping his hind legs to propel him up towards the handle. His paws caught the door but his weight wasn’t enough to open it when he fell backwards.

Doyoung stopped his work. 

“When did you get over there?” He called, stepping over to his sink first to wash away the excess greenery on his skin. It collected nicely in his drain stopper, but he’d bring that to the bowl he was working out of later. For now, he crouched next to Taeyong and tilted his head. “What’s the matter? Are you still thirsty? Hungry, maybe?”

Taeyong glared back at him and batted away the hand that Doyoung started to walk his way. 

“Okay, okay,” Doyoung huffed. “Sorry. I thought maybe you’d warmed up to me in the room but I guess not.” He stood again and went back to the bedroom. The saucer was clearly tackled but there was still a bit of milk left. While he pondered what the kitten could be wanting instead, Taeyong tried again. He was _almost_ successful this time. He had pulled the door away from the rest of the refrigerator and shined a cooling, bright light his way. But alas.... Taeyong whined again, until Doyoung started back towards him. He had an idea. 

The human was holding the saucer in his hand. Perfect. Taeyong pawed at the door but left his eyes on the saucer. _‘Get the human to do it for you.’_ And as Doyoung keyed in and started to open it Taeyong would only wish that he could laugh in success. He skirted around the other’s feet, trying to get the best view possible of whatever weirdness was stored in there.

Sure enough, piles upon piles of plants, most bitten with frost or dripping in ice, sat stacked on the shelves. In fact, Taeyong was sure there were more icy plants and preserves than there was food or drink for Doyoung himself. 

_Weird…_ he thought again. He was far more used to finding drying petals and leaves in every book, and nook, and cranny of Ten’s small house, where every room was scented by a variety of jarred spices. That all made much more sense to Taeyong. Freezing things… He couldn’t quite understand.

The door closed again and another small bowl of milk was set before him. Then Doyoung paused, straightening his spine and tapping his finger to his lips. “If you’re hungry… I don’t know if I have suitable cat food.” Bespeckled eyes glanced to the door. “I could run out… Would you be okay alone?” 

Taeyong let out a little ‘prrp!” almost as quickly as the question was asked. _‘Yes! Go out! I can investigate then.’_

Doyound smiled just slightly to himself. “Guess I’ll take that as a yes. Okay.” He walked back towards the door, looping his keys from a hook and grabbing whatever he’d tossed into a bowl on the white lacquered console table to slip into his pocket. Doyoung patted his butt, check, then at the breast of his jacket, check. He glanced over once and smiled awkwardly in place of any words before heading out.

_‘Showtime,’_ or, well, one more lap of milk. Taeyong tore off immediately after, making his way first to the workstation Doyoung had abandoned. There weren’t any spellbooks in sight, though the work to dismantle and grind these items down seemed meticulous. Surely it must have required specific instructions, but, whatever they were, Kim Doyoung seemed to know them by heart.

_“That know it all,”_ Taeyong had heard Ten say a few times. Guess it was true. But he _must_ have spellbooks and notes lying around somewhere. Taeyong hopped off and over to a bookshelf whose ledge was far too shallow for even Taeyong’s small body to fit on. 

That wouldn’t stop him from trying.

As he leapt, and failed to catch enough footing on the birch ledge, his nail caught onto a ribbon bookmark and he pulled the whole, heavy, leatherbound thing down with him with a crash loud enough to disrupt the rest of the shelving (and send a few other books _and_ and trinkets raining down around him). Taeyong meowed loudly, curling in on himself; braced for impact. 

His heart raced for a few extra seconds after all the noise had stopped, so he unfolded and assessed the damage. _‘Oh…’ _Not the best. Doyoung would surely be upset when he found so much broken glass and ceramic. Taeyong walked in a small, careful, circle and let out a huff. A chance to turn back would be nice right about now… He wanted to investigate and not get caught. Still… with nothing he could do to fix the mess, he decided to take advantage of the books before him. A wet nose nudged them open and he walked across the paper to read closely.__

__This was...a recipe book. Food recipes. Next._ _

__He moved to a smaller one, opening it with a bat of his paw. Notes about...weather and temperatures? Next._ _

__He was upon the big one that caused all this damage in the first place and had to use much of his weight just to get the thing to budge. Opening it up to halfway failed, so he chose to tackle it bit by bit instead-- cover, page one, page two… _‘Gosh.’_ This would take him forever, wouldn’t it? But he kept at it, until the first signs of gold leaf etching told him he was in the right place. Just one thing…_ _

__Ten had this book too._ _

__Taeyong hopped off of the paper and closed it again to confirm. Sure enough, the title and the etchings were the same--save for how Ten’s habit of fidgeting had worn down a lot of the edges. He let out the equivalent of a kitten groan and plopped onto the cover. Defeated._ _

__A ding from the door sent him upright again and he scrambled up the bookshelf. Maybe, if he could curl up cutely, Doyoung wouldn’t be as mad at his destruction. He squeezed his eyes shut to brace for impact and received… nothing. The door didn’t budge. Taeyong opened one eye to investigate. It didn’t sound like a doorbell and there wasn’t any knocking to follow it up. In fact, no other sounds crooned through the apartment._ _

__Taeyong’s tail fell off the side of the shelf and swayed in wait because he was worried that if he moved and Doyoung did come back, he wouldn’t have time to feign cuteness. But as more and more minutes passed, even his small muscles started to grow stiff and tense, wedged in such a space. He groaned, flipping onto his back, then back again onto his opposite side where he could now face the gap of books he’d recklessly brought to the ground. _‘Oops.’_ He craned his neck back towards the floor, where pieces of smashed ceramics were still strewn across it. _ _

__He hadn’t realized it but Taeyong started snoozing some time before the front door unlocked again. “Kitten!” Doyoung called, then paused before mumbling something along the lines of “I should give you a name if you’re going to stay.” He cleared his throat and set that thought aside for later. The bag in his hand rustled. “I’m home. I--” The air around them suddenly felt tight and it made Taeyong wince, wondering if the witch would start yelling or something. But instead he let out a heavy sigh. The bag was set on the table and Doyoung shuffled to his kitchen to unearth a broom and a dustpan. Collecting the pieces was the hard part, but once he had all them spread across his workstation alongside the book Taeyong also felled, fixing it was no problem. Doyoung didn’t bring it back over. He did gather the books, though, and started to fill in the gaps until the only remaining space was filled with a small kitten body. “Come here you,” his hand slipped underneath Taeyong’s body, pulling him over until he was safely tucked into his chest and he could reshelve the rest of the books. “If you like shelves maybe I’ll keep my polar bear elsewhere.”_ _

__Just as Taeyong started to squirm, Doyoung set him down again. “I really can’t tell with you,” he shot down to the kitten that followed him into the kitchen. “Are you destructive because you’re curious or do you hate me?”_ _

__Taeyong meowed._ _

__“Maybe you really do hate me… But I brought you food so I hope you’ll at least eat a little bit.”_ _

__Taeyong knew he shouldn’t eat. He had to leave, he just...didn’t know how to get back to where he needed to go. At least... not in this form. And as he watched Doyoung slice up small anchovies and fresh vegetables, maybe he actually didn’t want to go _just_ yet. He even dared to shift his weight towards his hind legs and press his front paws to Doyoung’s legs in anticipation. There was a lot of guilt flooding through him for damage that had already been fixed, but with a bowl full of good food in front of him, he was quick to forget it all._ _

__Taeyong ate and Doyoung went back to his prep work. Every so often he’d glance gray eyes upwards to see what Doyoung was doing, and almost every time dark eyes would meet his gaze. The last time it happened, Taeyong had already finished his food and he placed a paw to the witch’s ankle to convey his wants. _‘Lift me up,’_ so then he could really see what was going on without being as destructive as he had been. _ _

__Doyoung shot him a skeptical look. “If you knock my bowl over I might not be so nice anymore… but if you behave I’ll give you a treat.”_ _

___‘Treat!...Wait...’_ He ran his paw over his face. Getting _too_ cat-like could be dangerous for him. He needed to reel it in for his own sake. _ _

__Taeyong walked in a small circle around the clearest corner of the table and took a seat. Doyoung was still stripping the witch hazel, but he looked just about done; only a few more sprigs left that were quickly broken up and mashed with the rest of it. He wiped his hands on an ice blue dish rag hanging from a notch in his table and strolled back into the kitchen, pulling a few ice-licked lavender stalks and peonies from their respective vases, and bringing them to rest on the lip of a fresh bowl. Taeyong couldn’t help leaning in, tapping the top of a stalk with the tip of his nose. He immediately reeled back. It didn’t seem like it’d be so cold, but!! Doyoung chuckled while Taeyong batted the feeling away._ _

__“Careful.” He nudged the bowl a little closer to himself. “No wonder you looked so troubled climbing through the snow when I found you.”_ _

__Taeyong watched with a tilt in his head as Doyoung dabbed peppermint on his hands, rubbed them together, and blew soft breaths until cold air started to bounce off of his palms. He pressed the tips of his fingers into the base of the bowl and swiped his hands outward, leaving a trail of crackling frost on top of the glass. “There we go,” he whispered, wiping his hands on the cloth once again._ _

__The petals were plucked off one by one, hitting the bottom of the bowl with a soft _clink._ They didn’t melt. Doyoung took his time removing them carefully but the ones in the bowl remained frozen, even when he started to crush them into the consistency of course salt. Sometimes when he shifted the contents of the bowl some of the crystals started to glitter in the natural light coming through Doyoung’s window. Taeyong was enthralled. _ _

__“Do you want to touch it?” Doyoung asked, a glint in his eye. And Taeyong did. He really did. He shuffled forward with his front feet and leaned in towards a handful of the former flowers that Doyoung collected in his palm for him to investigate. Taeyong sniffed first. The floral scent was still strong, only tinged with a bit of peppermint from the oil from the bottom of the bowl. But when he touched it he no longer liked it. Still so cold! Shockingly so, especially with how easily Doyoung continued to handle it. He looked up with brows furrowed enough to convey his pout, meowing in protest while the witch just laughed._ _

___‘Rude.’_ He struck a paw at Doyoung’s hand. _ _

__The salt-like flower crystals fell back into the bowl gently, Doyoung using his other hand to ‘fend off’ the kitten’s attacks. “It’s cool, right? Literally and figuratively,” he laughed at his own comment. “There’s a lot of healing power that comes from the cold. It enhances the properties of already naturally healing remedies and makes them more powerful. I… Guess it’s obvious that I don’t have a lot of house guests since I’m telling you all this but I think it’s rather interesting.”_ _

__Doyoung really wasn’t all too talkative, though, because after that small ramble he was back to silent focus. He worked very meticulously, Taeyong noticed. Ten liked to throw things together and see what they became, jotting down notes along the way. Sure, right now a notebook or two was open at Doyoung’s side but he hardly seemed to check it. Doyoung moved with practiced attention, like he’d been doing this since the day he was born. Even the way he filled up the small vials was perfect, until he had 25 bagged and set aside, marked for their uses. Taeyong shifted for a closer look and Doyoung snatched them up fast._ _

__“Sorry, kitten. It’s not that I don’t want you to look but you did a number on my bookshelf and I need this to make my living.” He dropped them into a blanket cushioned basket and hid that away on the top shelf of a closet. It happened in a flash but Taeyong caught a glimpse of some extra interesting items Doyoung seemed to keep in stock-- knitwear, blankets, sheared wools, and another, smaller icebox in the base. Nothing like Ten’s collection of wings and eyes and gathered droplets of aged blood._ _

____

x

Taeyong had heard plenty about The Great Witch Ten before finally finding the leaf-strewn path that led up to his cottage. For a while now, Ten had one of the best reputations in the land. His remedies were curealls; his spells, well, magical; and the older women seemed enamored with his soft, kind demeanor too. Taeyong previously had no real interest in magic, and so no reason to see the witch himself. But then, when it happened, there was no one else he thought better to seek out.

Finding him was harder than expected, though. He tried to follow in the footsteps of his neighbors whom he knew were customers, but the trek was too far away to go on foot and he didn’t know how to sneak into a vehicle without getting run over first. 

He had to find him though. This whole kitten thing, while being his favorite animal, wasn’t how he wanted to be stuck for the rest of his life. He wouldn’t stand a chance in nature!

Grace came in the form of a new moon, allowing Taeyong’s human body to make a reappearance for long enough that he could run down the streets that felt right. He’d heard things about aging trees and cool winds whenever there were whispers of Ten. When he found those, along a cobblestone path lined with all sizes of jack-o-lanterns, he knew he had to be going the right way.

He reached the door just past midnight. There was so much guilt swirling in him for disturbing a stranger so late at night, but Taeyong didn’t have the time to be so considerate. It was a miracle that midnight didn’t turn him into Cinderella. He couldn’t miss his opportunity now.

The second Taeyong’s fist hit the dark oak door, skulls sprung up and around him, clattering at his feet. He yelped, staggered back, and all the candle-filled pumpkins previously lighting his way turned to assess their intruder. Taeyong’s throat felt dry, his heart raced, and somehow he was grateful to be on two human feet because at least he was taller than the objects that surrounded him. A cat could probably charm its way out of this though…

“Who dares?” A voice, low and fragmented as if crackling through an old speaker. “Who goes there?”

_‘Fuck,’_ Taeyong clenched his jaw. Suddenly he felt stupid. A witch had got him into his whole mess. Why did he think disturbing another would get him out of it? He took a step back and nearly tripped over a skull. He did regain his footing, but the poor thing cracked from underneath his weight. It yelped sharply, wailed loudly, and Taeyong, with his breath locked up in his lungs, couldn’t think of anything else to do but kneel down and pick it up. “There there, I’m s-sorry,” he stammered, petting over the smooth bits.

The door swung open with a _whoosh._

“How dare you!”

“I--”

“You wake me up from my beauty sleep _and_ you hurt one of my babies? Who do you think you are?”

“I’m just… I-...”

“Spit it out!”

Taeyong had clutched the shaking skull to his chest without realizing it and every time the man before him, Ten, he had to be Ten, reached out Taeyong would flinch back. Not the most productive. He needed to hand it over for the skull’s own sake. He just couldn’t stop trembling. “I… I… I just want your help!”

Something in the witch shifted, and though nothing seemed to change outright, his whole presence became less looming and imposing. Taeyong paused just to make sure he was seeing right.

“My help for what?” The witch took that moment to snatch his skull back. It buried itself into his chest like a pet. “Baby, poor baby…Papa will fix you up, don’t worry.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small drawstring bag that he undid with his teeth. Half if its shimmering contents were poured over the skull’s wounds and with a wave of Ten’s hand the cracks had filled with gold. The whimpering stopped. “There, there,” Ten set it back down again. 

“So what do you want my help with?”

“A curse.”

“I don’t give curses out so freely to strangers. What type of witch do you take me for?”

“Not cursing someone. _I’m_ cursed!”

“You?” Ten tilted his head. “You don’t look cursed.”

Taeyong, flustered, felt like he was ready to cry. His mouth fell agape and he glanced back through the trees to the shadow of a moon that granted him this freedom. “I don’t _now_ but when morning comes…”

Ten crossed his hands over his chest. “What will happen?”

“I…” Taeyong swallowed. Damn, it sounded so stupid that his skin flushed pink all the way to his ears. “I’ll turn into a cat.”

“A cat?” Ten barked out a laugh. “That’s it? A cat?”

“I’m serious!”

“What’s so bad about being a cat?”

“I’m not a cat! I’m a human.”

“You’re a real boy,” Ten singsonged, making Taeyong’s tears spill down his cheeks. “Oh come now, just a little fun. You’re still the trespasser here., Can’t I tease you a little bit?”

“N-no! I mean… sure, you can, but I’m desperate here. I don’t know how much longer I have before it all becomes permanent. Please,” he dropped to his knees. “Help me.”

Ten blinked. “Hey now, you don’t have to get all weird about it. Stand up.” He even offered a hand Taeyong’s way. Taeyong hesitated but took it and got back on his feet. Now that he was standing again Ten looked...small? Smaller than Taeyong, which was saying something. “What will you do for me in return?” 

“I… What can I offer you?”

“That’s what I asked you,” Ten returned pointedly. “Surely you came here with a proposal. You wouldn’t just disturb a stranger asking for things.” He quirked a brow. “Would you?”

Taeyong swallowed. “I...don’t have a lot of knowledge of magic,” He eventually confessed, shifting his weight between his feet. “But…” _‘Think, Taeyong, think. What would a cat offer? Companionship? Rodent extermination? Hunting? Gathering-- Oh.’_ “Do you have a familiar?” 

Ten’s attention seemed to perk at the question, or at least Taeyong thought, though only his brows seemed to move. “A familiar? I’ve never called for one.”

“Maybe you don’t have to. Maybe I can be it, instead.”

Ten raked over Taeyong with his eyes. “You, who have no knowledge of magic, want to become a witch’s familiar?” 

“I can be useful,” Taeyong retorts. “I can find things for you. I’m resourceful. I clearly figured out how to find you on my own. And when the new moon comes and I’m like this I can do so much more.” Ten started to speak but Taeyong cut him off. “Please, at least give me a chance. If you don’t like me you can turn me away.”

“But if I do, what about your curse?”

“That…” Taeyong sighed and looked to his feet. “I’ll figure it out.”

Ten hummed. He looked down to the calmed skull and pet its head, then brought it up to his eye level. “What do you think?”

It chattered aimlessly and Taeyong just stood there stunned. His fate, in the hands of an animated skull that he just so happened to step on. Gods, what was his luck?

Ten shifted the skull until its mouth pointed towards his ear and nodded a few times. “Okay, okay. You’re the boss.” He looked back to Taeyong. “I’ll allow it.”

“You...will?”

“For now. I reserve the right to reassess when I see how you are as a cat. Hopefully four legs will make you more stable than two, hm?” 

“H-hey.” Taeyong’s cheeks tinted pink. This Ten was too much, and his only saving grace right now was that the night lacked moonlight and the trees masked many of the stars. He bit onto his bottom lip. _‘Reel it in, Taeyong. Relax. Inhale. Exhale.’_ He released his lip. “Thank you. I’ll really work hard for you if you can help me.” 

“I’ll believe you when I see it.” Ten knelt down to set the skull among its friends who all welcomed it with their loud noises. “For now, come in. There’s no point making you wander the forest for the next few hours just to see how you transform.” As he stepped through the threshold, walls of candles suddenly lit. Ten’s weight nudged the door open further and his hand swept across the open space, welcoming Taeyong inside. 

He took a deep breath and followed. 

Ten chuckled at him that next morning, picking Taeyong up and lifting him overhead. “You said cat but all I’m seeing is a kitten. And what a cute kitten,” he cooed. Taeyong took a swipe towards his face. Ten turned him side to side, taking in all the dark gray markings on otherwise light colored fur. It made Taeyong dizzy. He meowed in protest. “Ah~” Ten grinned. “So cute. Maybe I’ll just keep you as a pet. Like this. Forever.”

All Taeyong could do was squirm to show his indignance. This was really the witch he’d ask to help him? What a mistake...

x

Taeyong blinked his eyes open slowly. A yawn parted his lips. When had he fallen asleep…? As he turned to flop into a patch of sunlight streaming through otherwise dark curtains he found himself sinking into the soft, mochi-like feel of a stuffed animal. He scrambled out of the hole his body was starting to form and walked in a small circle. A small nubby tail, tiny ears, cute nose. Oh, it was a polar bear. Kim Doyoung seemed to really like polar bears. Taeyong flopped back down again. Dreaming about Ten was harder than he thought it would be. It had hardly been a few days and yet… well, Taeyong was worried about his own state first and foremost. He didn’t know all the details of his curse or what it would take to break it now that he was away from the only help he’d found. And more than that...dare he say he missed Ten?

Suddenly too depressed, he didn’t want to move...until the smell of prepared food and fresh cream called him out into the kitchen. 

“Good morning, Kitten,” Doyoung greeted, setting two bowls down to Taeyong’s level. 

Taeyong meant to reply with a sound but he ended up yawning instead. 

“Ah, cute,” the tip of Doyoung’s index finger gently scratched the furry bridge of Taeyong’s nose before he stood. Taeyong stood there dumbly for a second, caught between _‘That felt good’_ and _‘What?’_ Food was in front of him, but for a moment he just stared at Doyoung.

After breakfast he padded back into the living room and leapt onto the cleanest corner of the wooden table, walking in one small circle then claiming the spot. Tail swaying over the edge, he watched Doyoung grind frozen flower petals in a mortar and pestle. Always with the ice. Ten never used ice. Ten used freshly fallen rainbows of leaves and dried plants pressed between his spellbooks. The two of them were so different, Taeyong was losing sight of Ten’s vendetta. It no longer made sense to him. 

Both of them perked up suddenly.

That ding from before. Taeyong straightened his spine and watched as Doyoung set his readings and workings aside to move across the room. He stopped just at the door but didn’t open it, paying more attention to a four-colored dial that hung on the wall perpendicular to it. Doyoung hummed, tracing his finger along the edge and then back up to the red tile that the arrow at the top indicated. Then he flipped open a notebook resting beneath it on the console table. “Right, right. Okay.”

From the coat rack Doyoung pulled a dark cardigan, draping it over his shoulders and slipping his glasses from his nose. They were small changes, but somehow Doyoung seemed so...different? He answered the door with a smile. “Miss Yang! Hello, hello, it’s good to see you. Please, come in,” he stepped aside, guiding an old woman over the threshold. “Would you like anything to drink? Water? Tea?”

“No, no, dear. I’m okay.” 

“Okay. Then just a moment while I gather your spells. Please, make yourself at home!” Doyoung shuffled off and the lady shuffled forward, ooh-ing and ahh-ing as though she wasn’t a frequent customer observing the same decor, the same plants, the same books. “Oh,” that wasn’t the same though. Taeyong blinked up into her wide eyes. 

“Master Ten, you got a cat?”

_‘Ten?...Ten?!’_

“Oh,” Doyoung was quick to return with two sheer drawstring bags, one housing two vials and the other with some roots. “I wouldn’t say ‘got’ so much as found? He’s been nice company, though. I appreciate that he sticks around. Here you are, ma’am.”

“He’s very cute. I think he suits you! A perfect cat for a perfect Ten,” she winked.

Taeyong had to muffle a sound of indignance. Of course he’s perfect for Ten, he worked for Ten! The real Ten! Who was this Doyoung to be taking Taeyong’s master’s name? And how annoying it was that he couldn’t even speak out against this, couldn’t vent his frustration. While Doyoung closed the door and spun the dial back to blue, Taeyong shifted around until his tail knocked over a small wooden figure from the shelf he’d been perched on. As it clattered to the ground he hopped away and paid no mind when Doyoung hurried over. 

“What is this?” He asked, voice lilting at the end with tinges with a whine. “Did I upset you? How?”

Taeyong exhaled in place of a proper human huff and stomped a little ways away, only to turn around and look to Doyoung while he readjusted his fallen wooden friend. The human glanced over and Taeyong narrowed his eyes.

“What?” Doyoung tried again and _goodness_ how much easier it would be if Taeyong could just speak, could just tell Doyoung _‘How dare you take on the identity of my master? Who do you think you are?!’_ But the most he could manage were high pitched screeches and those were unpleasant to even his own ears.

Doyoung huffed, too, and squatted until he was as near Taeyong’s level as he could get. “I’m not always the type to apologize for things I didn’t do,” he admitted with pursed lips. “But if it will keep you from breaking more of my things, then I’m sorry, Little One.”

Taeyong’s nose scrunched and his brows pinched. Doyoung still wore the cardigan and still lacked his glasses and like this...well, Taeyong found himself getting a little lost. Doyoung was Doyoung, but Doyoung did remind him of...Ten. He shook his head to get the image away. Doyoung’s head tilted. “Are you okay?”

_‘No,’_ Taeyong brought a paw down hard on the closest edge of the cardigan and tugged it towards him. _‘Take it off.’_

Doyoung blinked, watching Taeyong continue to gather all the fabric that he could into a pile between them. The kitten wouldn’t stop, so Doyoung lowered one shoulder and then other, twisting his body until it was all pulled from his body. He still lacked his glasses but, to Taeyong, this looked much better. He walked his way onto the pile of black knit fabric and kicked it away with his hind legs. 

In their short time together, Taeyong had heard Ten say a lot of things about Doyoung, but nothing about identity theft. Did Ten even know? Taeyong scrunched his nose again.

_‘No more of that.’_

Of course, how much could he really do? When that whole thing was over, when Taeyong walked away from the witch and towards the bowl that never seemed to be empty of milk, Doyoung just took the cardigan back and hung it up near the door again. And as the week went on he continued to see blips of when the dial would ding and the cardigan would come back out again.

Taeyong couldn’t help starting to wonder… the great wizard he heard so much about, it couldn’t really be Doyoung, could it? He’d heard to visit Ten. Ten, not Doyoung. But Ten never had guests in the two months that Taeyong had been with him. He’d been with Doyoung for a little more than two days and suddenly someone was showing up asking for Ten. Taeyong grew more and more muddled. Ten _was_ great though, and he was kind enough to offer help in exchange for service. Taeyong had been happy with him-- so why was he worried now? Grey eyes glanced up to Doyoung, busy at his workstation, and then down to his own tiny form. If he’d come here instead, could he have already been healed?

He didn’t like that thought. He didn’t like doubting Ten after they’d grown so close (or, he thought they were close between all the playful nudges and long nights of pets, the way that Ten would envelop Taeyong’s human form just as tightly as his cat self).

The door dinged again. Taeyong readjusted, turned away, feeling already ill at the thought of watching Doyoung be Ten yet again, but when Doyoung answered the door, he made no motions to change. The tile on the spinner was blue. 

“Master Kim Doyoung?” A deep voice asked. 

“I’m him.”

“A letter from the King for you.” 

‘King?’ Taeyong sat up now. 

“Thank you, sir,” Doyoung bowed deeply, hands outstretched in acceptance of the letter. “I look forward to the news.” 

Doyoung slipped his finger underneath the top fold of the envelope and slid it through as he left the entryway and crossed over to his couch. Taeyong leapt over and up next to him, walking his paws up his bicep to take his own look at the letter. The header at the top, inlaid with gold ink, said that it was indeed from the King. Taeyong had seen this before… scanning over the penmanship that congratulated Doyoung on his progression into the next phase of the “Aid Apprenticeship Application.” 

“Curious, friend?” Doyoung asked, flashing the letter over for hardly a minute. A soft smile spread across his lips and when he got up again his shoulders shimmied for the slightest moment. Taeyong was still dwelling though… _‘Aid Apprenticeship Application…’_

And then it clicked. Ten had entered in that, too. And Taeyong, taking the place of his familiar as part of the exchange for help, was working hard to get him there. He’d groan if his mouth could make the sound, so instead he flopped onto his side and let his whole body deflate in a sigh. Doyoung _and_ Ten were trying to be the King’s sole magic aid. God… just when he thought it was already hard enough. Doyoung had made it a step closer and Ten...well, Taeyong didn’t even know because he was stuck here, because he left on a hunt for information and got himself trapped. Even if he learned Doyoung’s secrets, all the techniques in his cauldron to get him to the next step in the application, how could he bring them back to Ten like this? 

What a familiar he was…

x

Back straight, muscle stiff, Taeyong waited while Ten assessed each and every ingredient he brought back from that afternoon of scavenging. Ten’s expression was unreadable, unchanging as well, while he went through each fallen leaf, dried twig, and animal part. Sometimes he’d pick something up and throw it away outright, leaving Taeyong to jump and then wonder what he’d done wrong.

“I will say that I’ve never had so many dead rats to work with,” He... complimented? Taeyong wasn’t quite sure. Those were put into a basket full of rice and wrapped gently in black silk. “I’m going to show you something now, so pay close attention.” Ten reached back into the trash bin and laid out the rejected ingredients. “Do you see this? Come closer.”

Taeyong lowered his body to the table and leaned forward. 

“These leaves have weak veins, you can see it in their appearance right? Look at the nice ones.” 

Taeyong couldn’t really see it. Some looked brighter than the others, and maybe that was the indication, but he didn’t know for sure. 

“And if you feel the ends… Give me your paw.”

Taeyong plopped it onto his outstretched palm. Ten dragged it gently around the other edge of the leaf. 

“Do you feel that? That’s life energy still holding on. We want that. We want to give that another chance through our spells. So that’s what we’re looking for when we want leaves. Do you understand?”

Taeyong nodded and Ten went on to explain the twigs, too, highlighting brittleness and bumps. “Tomorrow,” Ten started, swiping all the bad items back into the bin with the whole of his forearm, “we’ll try again and see, okay?”

But while Taeyong grew in his place as a familiar, Ten struggled in finding Taeyong’s cure. He tried not to let onto it, though Taeyong became quick to read how frustration marked itself onto the witch’s features. A twitch in the corner of his lips, a pinch in his brow-- these things were subtle but there, and Taeyong could tell that as the days crawled on Ten’s uncertainty was growing. 

The first new moon since their meeting, Ten watched Taeyong’s transformation closely. With vials in hand, he gathered the remnants of magic dust to analyze--spent long nights with it, actually, after Taeyong had returned back to being a cat once again. 

Still...nothing. 

Despite his own worries, Taeyong tried to calm Ten with soft presses of his paws or a rub of his cheek. If Ten got too upset he wouldn’t be able to work at all. Or at least that’s what Taeyong told himself while getting closer and closer to the witch. Taeyong didn’t want to lose hope. Building Ten back could keep them both strong.

It was around this time that he started hearing more about Kim Doyoung. When Ten couldn’t get enough of the right ingredients or when the night’s temperature dropped too chilly for Ten to be able to work, he’d mutter his annoyances about a man Taeyong had never heard of. 

“God damnit, it’s so cold the leaves aren’t able to retain their life force,” Ten groaned after tossing a whole pile into his trash bin. “I bet this is his doing,” he clenched his jaw, forming a tight fist, and looked ready to smack his fist into the table when Taeyong quickly caught it in his own hand.

“Hey… Calm down.”

“Ah…” Ten glanced up. “Right. You’re not a cat tonight.”

Taeyong raised a brow. “No?”

Ten sighed, waving away whatever train of thought he might’ve had. He didn’t, however, take his hand from Taeyong’s. 

So Taeyong pressed on. “Whatever it is...It’ll be okay. We’ll brush up your spells for the apprenticeship, we’ll figure out what to do with, well, me. I have faith.”

_Makes one of us,_ scrunched up Ten’s face but he only nodded. 

“We will,” he agreed. “We will.”

Taeyong was the one who eventually broke them both apart, resting his weight on the clear part of Ten’s workstation (where he’d usually perch in his other form). He folded his arms loosely across his chest. “Who’s Doyoung?” 

Ten winced.

“You don’t have to tell me. I’m just curious.”

“Why do I have a feeling that that curiosity tends to get you in trouble?” Ten shot Taeyong a sideways glance. 

“You talk about him a lot! I’m just wondering,” Taeyong whined, bottom lip jutted out. 

“He’s just an old...rival of mine. We grew up together, we were always in the same classes, always vying for the same ranks and positions.” 

“And now? How does his magic affect yours?”

“It’s not his _magic_ exactly. It’s just that he thrives on winter weather and working with the cold while _my_ stuff dies when the temperatures drop. It’s already annoying being unable to work; knowing he’s succeeding at the same time, wherever he is, is even more infuriating.” 

Taeyong nodded slowly, not quite getting it, but he’d never had a rival before either. “Oh.”

“Oh? That’s all you have to say?”

“Is there something else you’d want me to say?”

“I...” Ten pursed his lips. “I don’t know, maybe something validating? Half the reason I’m frustrated is because I’m trying to help you. Winter makes things harder.”

Taeyong’s shoulders sank in place of the ears he lacked. “Sorry… I didn’t think about it like that. I just, well, you’ve talked about this person so much I guess I didn’t know what to expect and--”

Ten’s hand fell on top of Taeyong’s head, fingers coursing carefully through silver color hairs. Taeyong wanted to purr, even if part of him worried that doing so would mean he was becoming more cat than man. He swallowed it down instead and shut his eyes. Ten let out a soft _shushing_ sound.

“ _I’m_ sorry. I shouldn’t have lost my cool on you. Doyoung’s the bastard I’m upset with anyway.” But when Taeyong blinked up and looked over to Ten he was smiling. Whatever their rivalry...maybe it wasn’t as based in anger as Taeyong originally thought. Actually, looking closer at Ten he seemed a little...sad. Like, in his eyes. Taeyong ran his hands through his own hair and gathered Ten’s up to hold again. 

“Whoever this Doyoung person is, whatever he does...well, I’m sure you’re better. Your name was all I heard back in my hometown. That says something I think,” he squeezed Ten’s hand tighter. “I believe in you, too. For whatever what might be worth.” 

Ten took a second’s worth of pause, looking up Taeyong up and down, then he squeezed his hand back. “Do you trust me?”

“Trust you?”

“Yeah, do you?”

“I do,” Taeyong didn’t hesitate. He didn’t feel like he needed to. He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t trust Ten and even if a solution to his cat problem came in a few weeks or a few months then he’d be okay with that too.

Ten shifted to his feet. They stood nearly eye to eye, Ten swinging their hands loosely. Taeyong had noticed it the first night they met that he actually had a little bit of height on the witch. And when Ten wasn’t acting all imposing or assuming, his size was...cute. It wasn’t every day Taeyong didn’t have to physically look up to someone. Then Ten pulled away to wrap his arms around Taeyong, and all that sadness Taeyong thought he had read on the witch’s face washed all over him. Taeyong gently wrapped his arms around Ten’s waist. 

Resting his head in the crook of Taeyong’s neck, Ten didn’t say anything, even as he sighed and shook his head. It wasn’t hard to hold Ten like this, but containing his own shuddered breaths and soft sounds when Ten nuzzled closer was a bit of a challenge. He felt warm… and it’d been so long since Taeyong’s human self had been so close to another. 

Ten whispered “thank you” against his neck, and Taeyong meant to reply but gasped instead, prompting chuckles from the witch’s lips. 

“Sorry,” But Ten didn’t pull away, his breath continuing to fall hot against Taeyong’s neck.

“No need,” Taeyong swallowed hard.

When they finally separated, Ten’s eyes shifted towards the window. The sun was making her grand return and Taeyong would soon be back to what was most familiar to them both. Ten looked back to Taeyong sadly, as apologetic as when the night started. 

Taeyong didn’t want to see that. At least not when he could really do something to avoid it. He reached towards the desk, plucking a stalk from the vase in the corner. Ten’s eyes creased with a smile, tiny purple flowers tickling underneath his nose and nearly threatening to make him sneeze. He had never been on this end before, usually treating Taeyong either as a reward or whenever his zoomies had built up far too much for his little body to handle. As the sun rose and Taeyong started to shrink, Ten took the lavender back from him and returned the favor upon full transformation. 

“C’mon, kitten. Let’s go to bed.”

x

How…? How was it that such a small body could leave such a huge hole? The thought plagued Ten every time he woke up. He still hadn’t moved the puddle of mochi material pillows that Taeyong had claimed for his bed atop Ten’s bed. Which meant, every time he turned towards the window to greet the day he came face to nothing with Taeyong’s disappearance.

It’d been a week. 

Ten had explored around the immediate area the night Taeyong didn’t come home but then considered Taeyong might want some space so two more days passed before he tried again. Tried and then worried, because he couldn’t find the kitten anywhere. 

Maybe… Ten started to fear that maybe Taeyong didn’t want to be with him anymore. Maybe Taeyong was finally fed up with Ten’s inability to cure him. Maybe he’d annoyed him once and for all. ~~It wouldn’t be the first time he’d done that to someone.~~ But Ten was also never one to accept true defeat, even when he went out for two days and came back with nothing. 

Still, he had to set his search on a small pause. He needed the ingredients Taeyong had originally gone out to scavenge. He had deadlines for the King’s search and though the lack of his newfound familiar weighed heavy on his heart he couldn’t, yet, give up on the goal of becoming an apprentice. 

With a scarf wrapped around his head and a mask over his lips, Ten headed out to the local market. It wouldn’t be as nice as something found in the wild but for now it’d just have to do. At least buying essences saved him time from crafting his own.

Ten browsed slowly through the stands of the farmer’s market. He was out, he might as well enjoy it, _and_ take the time to peek around for Taeyong just in case his familiar had gotten lost in these parts. It wasn’t seeming likely, since this village had the path most direct to Ten’s cottage. It seemed unlikely that he’d even be able to find Taeyong at this rate… Ten lingered at the stalks of lavender. They reminded him so much of the kitten… Fuck. 

“Can I help you?” The vendor paused her conversation with a friend to ask, tilting her head and body to get a peek at Ten’s eyes. 

“I’m just looking, thank you.” A pause. “Well, actually, could I have a few of these stalks?” He could welcome Taeyong with these if he chose to come back.

As the vendor pulled some of the best visible flowers available, Ten turned to look at the oils he’d come for and overheard two more women talking.

“Did you hear Master Ten got a cat?”

“Really? I hadn’t!”

“I saw him just the other day when picking up my order. The cat is the cutest thing and his gray fur fits Master Ten’s wintry style. Definitely ask to see him when you go next.”

“I will, I will! I’m due to stop by for more balms in a few weeks. Oooh, I can’t wait.”

_‘Master...Ten?’_ Ten cocked a brow and looked up, and he must have been staring before the ladies slowed their conversation and eventually stared back at him. _‘Winter. A gray cat. Winter. **Winter.** ’_

Ten grit his teeth. “That bastard.” 

He started to storm off when the florist called out after him for his lavender. “Right, damn,” Ten hissed under his breath, stomping back to collect them and pay. Then he tore off again. 

Time and time again it was always Doyoung. How did this damn thorn in his side always manage to be Doyoung? 

Ten headed straight to the other wizard’s home. Of _course_ he knew how to get there, it was important for him to keep tabs on his number one enemy. Besides, it wouldn’t have been hard for Ten to find him. While he buried himself in the woods, Doyoung obviously nestled closer towards the mountains to retain more cold weather. It just made sense. It wasn’t weird that Ten knew exactly how to get there.

Late into dusk he made it. He banged his fist against the door. “Let me in, you--!”

Ten drew his hand back so quickly it nearly knocked him off balance. Doyoung blinked down at him. “Ten? Can I help you?”

Somewhere deep in the house there was the sound of scurrying. Taeyong didn’t want to be seen but he had to make sure he’d heard Doyoung correctly. He peered around the corner of the small couch.

“You have my Taeyong!” 

Taeyong gasped. _‘His Taeyong?’_

“Your...what?”

“My cat. That cat that you have is my cat! Well, he’s not even really a cat.”

Doyoung’s brows pinched and he glanced back behind him until he was able to find the cat in question. He held a finger out, keeping Ten in place as he moved to gather Taeyong up. It was a bit of a struggle; Taeyong wasn’t ready to face this fate, but there were only so many places he was able to hide. Once snatched, Doyoung returned to Ten and asked, “This cat?” He glanced between the two. “I don’t understand?”

As Ten looked to Taeyong every inch of him softened. He knew his familiar like the back of his hand. This was Taeyong, and that meant Taeyong was safe. Now back to Doyoung. “The new moon was a few nights ago-- didn’t you see him transform?”

“No?”

_‘Abort, abort!’_ Taeyong shimmied in Doyoung’s hold and tried to hide in the crook of his elbow. 

“You transform?” Doyoung asked Taeyong. The cat mumbled a mesh of noises.

“Honestly, none of that matters. Give him back to me,” Ten reached out forcefully but Doyoung side stepped away. 

“You could ask me nicely at least, instead of storming up to my door and demanding something.”

Ten’s eyes narrowed. “Those are big words from someone who is assuming my identity.”

Doyoung froze colder than the temperature of his home or the magic he worked with. Face growing pale, he tried to break away from the hard stare Ten was pinning him down with, but he only found Taeyong with the same shameful and upset expression he wore when a customer came that first time. “Ah,” he sighed, resigned. “You’re right.” But he was still hard-pressed to hand the cat over.

Ten’s hands remained outstretched. “I’m used to you being a weirdo, but this? Stealing my identity _and_ my familiar? New low, Doyoung.”

“Hey!” Doyoung snipped back. “I didn’t know he was your familiar, okay? If I did, do you really think I would’ve held onto him? I’m not as much of an asshole as you always paint me to be.”

“But you’re still using my name? Not a good look for you.”

“That’s not to be an asshole!” Doyoung’s voice pitched and Taeyong could feel the stress coursing through him. Such a shameful, selfish thing he tended to be, but this time he quickly shifted around until he could put both paws on Doyoung’s chest, holding himself up on his back legs. Even though he was in front of Ten, he didn’t want to let Doyoung suffer now. The winter witch really had taken good care of him, after all. And like it was magic of his own, Doyoung immediately calmed. He pushed air in and out of his lungs, closed his eyes, and steadied himself. 

“I’m doing that for you, you know,” Doyoung said after a long pause. He gathered Taeyong back into his arms again. His eyes couldn’t meet Ten’s so he looked just to the right of him instead. “It helps when...when you’re involved in the community. There are a lot of people who your magic could really benefit, but you keep it to yourself. I started being Ten so I could cater to _your_ community in your name. That way the King would consider you.” 

“The King…” Two feelings flashed onto Ten’s face-- surprised gratitude that quickly melted into pure, white hot anger. “I don’t need your help to impress the King. I don’t need someone like you interfering, thinking you’re better than me like always, thinking that _I_ would need _your_ help to continue my life. Who do you think I am, Kim Doyoung? I am the Great Witch Ten.” 

Taeyong felt Doyoung recoil. He glanced up and saw him almost actually bite his tongue. “You’re right,” he choked out. “I’m sorry.” 

“I don’t want your apologies. I just want my familiar back-- and to never see your face again.” 

Every inch of Doyoung went lax. Every part of him breathed sadness that he schooled his face not to show. Carefully, he positioned both of his hands around Taeyong’s tiny body and then held him at half an arms length. Their eyes met and Taeyong didn’t know what to convey. Something sorrowful, something apologetic, something of strength? He tried for all of it before he was finally handed over. 

“Goodbye, Doyoung.” Ten chose not to wait for a reply before he was back out the door.

Back home, Taeyong hopped from Ten’s arms and back onto the familiar dark oak hardwood, padding around newly gathered piles of robes and T-shirts, peppered with flecks of twigs and leaves, and food containers. He gave Ten a look.

“I was stressed out, okay?” Ten whined, quickly scooping Taeyong up again. “You vanished! Do you know how hard the last weeks have been for me?”

Taeyong meowed but he meant no, he didn’t. He was admittedly surprised that Ten had come after him--let alone found him. That earned his witch a head bump. In return, Ten ran the lavender he’d bought just for a moment like this over his nose and up the bridge.

Ten exhaled softly, breathing out all the ways he kept himself composed, and brought them both to the couch. He flipped Taeyong around, holding him as close to his chest as he could but without risking being looked at. Silence wrapped around them, save for the increased speed of Ten’s heartbeat that Taeyong could feel against his back. Long fingers worked their way across Taeyong’s neck and up into his ears. He settled into Ten’s hold. Coming back had always been at the forefront of Taeyong’s mind but now that he was here something nipped at him from behind. Some sort of pervasive sadness he thought he’d leave behind with Doyoung.

But what was it, wasn’t it?

Not much was done that night. Ten forgot to restock up on the milk and cream he’d let go sour in Taeyong’s absence and ordered food for them both to compensate. That next morning, however, it was back to business. Ten wouldn’t let Taeyong hunt ingredients alone--wouldn’t take the risk--so they were out closer to the crack of dawn than usual to go gathering. Taeyong yawned as he padded through the drying grass, nosing his way to roots and pulling weeds with his teeth. It was nice, though. Being with Doyoung didn’t lend itself to too much activity and-- Taeyong shook his head out, ears flopping hard against his head. No more thinking about Doyoung. That’s what got him in trouble in the first place.

x

Taeyong stretched to his full arm span, leaning one way, then the other, stretching out his ribs while he regained feeling in a body larger than he was growing used to. “Ah,” he huffed out slowly. Everything always felt so foreign to him, every inch of him both his body and yet not. No longer, anyway. He took deep breaths, expanding his chest as far as it’d go while his fingers flexed at his side and in front of his face. His stomach growled so he wrapped an arm around it before stepping back into the living room.

“So,” Ten called, nudging a bowl of rewarmed corn soup he’d made earlier that evening towards Taeyong. “Are you going to tell me how that happened?”

Taeyong took the food with a bow of his head and ate a few spoonfuls before attempting his reply. “So…” He cleared his throat. It’d be nice to act a fool but they both knew Taeyong wasn’t that ignorant. “I wanted to see him.”

“Tch,” Taeyong couldn’t see Ten roll his eyes but he felt it deep in his soul. “And why would you want to do that?”

“You talked about him so much. I just wanted to know why you hated him, what he did, who he was.”

“Taeyong,” Ten leaned closer, elbow propped up on his coffee table, chin on his closed fist. He looked him up and down. “You know what they say about curiosity right?”

“I didn’t die,” Taeyong protested. He shoved another mouthful of soup between his lips and started to mutter, “Actually, I mean, you wouldn’t want to hear it, but he took pretty good care of me. I had milk and cream every day.”

Ten rolled his eyes again.

“I didn’t _want_ to get taken in by him, okay? I just wanted to spy on him and come back.”

“So then what happened?”

Taeyong didn’t want to answer. He rolled his shoulders forward, like if he folded himself maybe he could just disappear. 

“Taeyong…”

“...I got lost in the snow.”

What started as snorting blew up into full blown, stomach clutching laughter. Ten’s head fell back against the headrest of the couch. “You got…” He gasped. “Lost. Lost?!” He wheezed. “In the… In the…” Ten couldn’t even finish his sentence. 

“So mean…” Taeyong’s bottom lip jutted out. He never wished to be a cat more than right now. At least then he could shrink down and hide.

In the time it took Taeyong to finish his meal Ten did, eventually, calm down. He brought his knuckle to his eyes, wiping away tiny tears that lingered, before he asked “So did you learn anything?”

“Uhm…” He did, actually. Lots of insight into how cold temperatures could enhance magic and what sorts of spells the villagers liked to buy. But he didn’t feel like saying it. They were Doyoung’s techniques, not Taeyong’s to share. So he pivoted and said instead, “I see why you two are rivals. He...made it to the next round of the apprenticeship you’re working towards.”

“Of course he did,” Ten’s voice dropped. “Well, we’ll just have to work harder.”

“Ten,” Taeyong chewed on his lip. He spoke before his brain caught up to him and now he guessed he had to follow through. His hand settled onto Ten’s shoulder and he gathered a bit of his shirt into his fingers and against his palm. “On my curse too, right?”

“Taeyong, of course,” Ten softened completely. “That’s my top priority.” 

“Okay.”

“You believe me, right? That we will?”

“No, I do. I’m…” Scared. Because even as he stood now he felt more uncomfortable than ever. It was like being a human was no longer right for him. He couldn’t have that. He didn’t _want_ that. 

Somehow Ten picked up on it--or maybe it was just obvious--but Ten nodded and said, “It’s okay. We’ll fix this. We’ll fix this fast, I promise.” 

Taeyong encouraged Ten to go to sleep but waited out the rest of his own time awake, watching the way his fingers flexed before his eyes. It was the little things he was trying to burn into his memory; things like having hands and being a height where he could serve himself. If he focused on these things, maybe he could try to summon them back as part of his cure? It didn’t seem likely. Taeyong’s head fell back against the couch, eyes glued to the shadows stretched across the ceiling, thinking about the last time he’d been like this:

It happened so suddenly. Taeyong scrambled, polar bear plushie and all, as deep into Doyoung’s closet as he could go. He clutched the soft thing to his chest, covering himself, heart racing. _‘God,’_ if Doyoung woke up now, if he found him… He held out hope that if he stayed silent, since his hard crash landing to the floor hadn’t woken the witch up, maybe he’d be safe. 

“Mmm…Ah…”

Taeyong’s ears perked as much as a human’s could. Was Doyoung...talking? 

There was a gentle rustling, the sheets shifting and folding while Doyoung rolled to his side and hugged closer to his pillow. 

“Ten…”

_‘Ten?’_ Doyoung was dreaming about Ten? Taeyong leaned closer to the door. He’d heard a lot in his little time between these walls. He was used to Ten going on rants about Doyoung, spitting poison about the winter witch and how he ruined everything. But Doyoung, despite being frequently frustrated, spoke softer. He spoke of...longing, sometimes. At least it felt like longing to Taeyong. 

“We started using lavender together, didn’t we?” Taeyong remembered Doyoung musing one afternoon. “All of our first calming spells came from this. And then we switched our approaches and… I guess that’s where it all began, huh?” 

“I don’t really know what happened. Do you just hate me or do you hate the whole world?” 

The dial at the door dinged and interrupted wherever his thoughts had been going. Once again, Doyoung was answering the door as Ten, and for some reason Taeyong didn’t hate it as much that time.

“S...sorry…” he heard Doyoung mutter in his sleep now. 

_‘Sorry?’_ Maybe that’s why Taeyong wasn’t so bothered. Doyoung wasn’t doing this out of malice. Doyoung didn’t hate Ten. Doyoung seemed to… well, Taeyong didn’t want to assume...

Taeyong couldn’t shake the thoughts. Even now, sitting on the floor of Ten’s home, he was thinking about Doyoung, Doyoung’s magic, Doyoung’s thoughts, Doyoung who played the Witch Ten who Taeyong intended to see. And then of course Ten, the real Ten, the all powerful witch who really was dedicated to helping him... 

Taeyong had a thought he was too scared to act on. But if he didn’t now, would he even be able to later?

As the sun started to creep through the cracks on Ten’s curtains, Taeyong forced himself onto his feet. He had seconds to spare, seconds to gather up his courage, to shake Ten awake in his bed, and to say, “I need you to talk to him.”

x

Spending a whole night awake led Taeyong to sleep as late into the day as Ten would allow him. Usually the witch wasn’t too generous, but today was different. At least, Taeyong realized such when he woke into the early afternoon, no more pink in the day’s sky. He padded around the pool of pillows, disoriented and still sleepy. Then, he tore himself away before another cat nap could claim the rest of the afternoon.

Ten greeted him with a surprising array of treats-- fresh salmon, milk and cream, even some store-bought cookies. Taeyong blinked up in confusion until he remembered his request from last night. His nose wrinkled. Everything smelled so good and he was feeling so hungry… but he also knew what Ten was doing. This was a peace offering. 

If he had agreed to Taeyong’s ask then they would’ve been at the mountains early that morning.

“Eat up,” Ten encouraged, crouching down and nudging the bowls closer.

Taeyong let out a frustrated sound and turned his head away, but no sooner had he done so his stomach growled loud enough to reach both their ears.

_‘Dammit…’_

“Come on. You should eat.”

Taeyong walked in a circle and shook his head.

“Why not?”

Taeyong stared at Ten hard and then he raised a paw. It pained him to do this. Even as a cat, he wasn’t going to eat food off of the ground and as a human he hated wasted food. But it needed to be done. He spilled the bowl of milk and cream across Ten’s kitchen tile floor.

“Taeyong!”

Taeyong stood firm-- well, sat firm as he planted his butt in front of the mess. 

Ten held his gaze for a long moment but broke quickly to gather a towel. “I can’t believe you.” He all but tossed it to the ground. “I’m not going to talk to him. I can’t.”

Taeyong made a noise in protest.

“I can’t, Taeyong. I won’t.”

Taeyong was back onto his feet, back arched and tail perked up high. His fur bristled. And Ten? Ten wasn’t going to take part in this anymore. He shook his head, standing again and setting off towards his work station. Taeyong continued that whole day hungry.

The next morning Taeyong didn’t even bother to move from the pillows. If they were still here, if he hadn’t been woken up, then that meant Ten was still not listening to his request. Would Ten ever? It had only been two days since Taeyong asked but that was enough to prove a point, was it not? Taeyong went as far as the windowsill in the bedroom, curling up tightly in the corner with his eyes fixed forward the mountains. That’s where Ten found him in the evening. He shook his head and didn’t say anything. They went to bed without talking.

“Taeyong. Taeyong, wake up.”

The kitten stirred, opened an eye and then rolled over.

“You brat,” Ten huffed. He placed a hand on Taeyong’s back and jostled him gently. “Wake up. I have something for you.” He slipped a vial out of his pocket and held it out for Taeyong to sniff. “I may have cracked the code. Want to try?”

Taeyong looked to Ten skeptically. All that time spent together created nothing but Taeyong asked for Doyoung’s involvement and suddenly Ten had a cure? Taeyong wasn’t sure he could believe it. But he knew Ten wouldn’t _hurt_ him, so at least the risks had to be low.

Partaking in strange foods had gotten him into his mess in the first place, maybe a drink would be just what it took to set him free.

He shifted from his side to sit up right and nodded his head.

“Great!” Ten’s shoulders slackened like a world’s worth of stress was finally taken off of them and his whole face lit up. He shifted until he was sitting down, legs crossed beneath him, and he held his arms open. “Come here?”

Taeyong sighed slowly but complied, crawling into Ten’s lap while the witch opened up the vial. “I tried to sweeten it with some lavender and sugar but it might not be to your taste so I’m sorry in advance, okay?” Taeyong shot him a questioning look. “Okay, let’s try!”

Four droplets of swirling navy and silver liquid fell onto a sandpaper tongue before Taeyong recoiled. He still swallowed, though he absolutely did not want to, and Ten was quick to run his fingers down the back of his neck to help ease the still-too-bitter taste of the spell through his system. “Can you try to take a few more? At least half the vial?”

Taeyong whimpered but his mouth opened again and, by some stretch of magic far stronger than Ten’s, was able to finish off the whole thing.

Now they waited. Breath bated, they looked at each other expectantly. Ten crossed his fingers and toes, Taeyong wrapped his tail around Ten’s wrist as if bidding one final goodbye to the ability. 

And then nothing happened.

“What?” Ten all but deflated, looking from the empty vial over to Taeyong and then back again. “What did I do wrong? It had everything… remnants for your transformations, ginger, mandrake, bloodroot--”

_‘Stop, stop, stop,’_ Taeyong cut him off with a bat of a paw. He really did not need to know what he just drank.

“Sorry,” Ten whispered. “Sorry… I thought I had it figured out, honestly. I’ll try again and--”

Taeyong hit him again. Big eyes looked up and outright pleaded with Ten. _‘Don’t do this. Talk to him. Talk to him for me.’_

Ten’s face screwed up in pain. “Do you really just like him that much? Is he so much better than I am?”

Taeyong meowed softly. _‘No,’_ he meowed again. _‘Never.’_

He climbed up further into Ten’s arm, onto his chest, and pressed their noses together.

_‘I trust you. So will you trust me, now?’_

Ten gathered Taeyong up completely and held him and closely as he could. 

“Fine,” he relented. “We’ll go tomorrow.”

Taeyong nodded. _‘Tomorrow.’_

Tomorrow...

“Ten?” Doyoung was still wiping sleep from his eyes when he opened the door. His hand moved to muffle a yawn. “It’s like 5 in the morning. What are you doing here?” Then he saw Taeyong and his heart skipped a beat. The kitten was looking directly at him, all wide eyes and pleading.

“We need to find a way to revert his curse.”

“ _We?_ ”

“Yes. You and I. We need to help him.”

Doyoung was already getting agitated. If it wasn’t obvious by the way his brows furrowed and he folded his arms across his chest, he then asked, “What do I have to do with this?” Taeyong let out an annoyed grumble and tapped Ten’s arm with his paw.

“God,” Ten groaned. “ _Fine._ I need you to help me. He asked me to ask you. He wants us to work together because I haven’t been able to figure it out.” He brought Taeyong to his eye level. “Are you happy now?”

Taeyong gave a cheeky little “prrp!” in reply. Then he looked back to Doyoung. Between the two of them Ten definitely was going to be the harder one to convince but that didn’t mean Doyoung was sold on the plan either. Taeyong just hoped, after days of hearing the winter witch’s lamentations maybe he’d have more leverage. Doyoung didn’t like their rivalry either right? He poked his tongue out between his lips, holding the gaze that he knew Doyoung wanted to break off.

_‘Please?’_

Doyoung pulled the door all the way open and stepped aside. 

“What have you done so far?” Straight to business, Doyoung was already at his workstation without changing out of his pajamas. Ten stepped out of his shoes and carried Taeyong over, rattling off lists of potions and their base ingredients. He explained Taeyong’s ‘symptoms’, the way he changed and when, how long it had been. 

“How did it happen?”

“Well,” Ten paused and blinked over to the cat in question. “I...don’t know?”

Taeyong looked up between them and then tried to scramble away but Ten caught him by his tail at the last second. He screeched, flailing and trying to hit Ten’s hand. It didn’t work… Ten had him all gathered up in his arms and against his chest once again. “We’ve never talked about it.” He poked Taeyong’s chest. “Is there a reason?”

Taeyong mewled, shimmying in Ten’s hold in hopes of finding freedom.

“Are you embarrassed?” Doyoung called over. 

Taeyong let out another sound, buried in a heavy sigh, which gave Doyoung his answer.

“That’s cute,” Ten chimed in, ruffling some of the fur on top of Taeyong’s head. 

“It’d help if you knew, you know,” Doyoung shot over in a strained voice that told Taeyong he was trying--and failing--not to be so tense with the two of them.

Ten scrunched his nose. “Well, I don’t so we’ll have to work around that. Right, Taeyong?” He held him up towards the ceiling. 

Taeyong gave a throaty response. He wanted no part in their rivalry...even if he was the one who brought them together.

Soon after, Ten set Taeyong onto the couch and approached Doyoung’s table. “As meticulous as ever, I see.” 

“Some things don’t change,” Doyoung returned, looking Ten deliberately up and down. 

“Kim Doyoung, you are as shady as ever.” There was no humor in Ten’s voice when he spoke. Taeyong waited for Doyoung to laugh, to lighten up the mood with his victory, but he stayed quiet too. Taeyong squirmed slightly in his place. 

Maybe this was a mistake…

Despite being two powerful wizards, amazingly matched in skill, they really didn’t work well together. Half of whatever Taeyong gathered for them always seemed to end up either on the floor or in one of their faces. And it only ever got quiet when they’d both part ways to go to sleep. Walking up the mountain path to Doyoung’s place, Taeyong felt himself filled with hope. It had only been three days but Taeyong was no longer sure he’d ever find his human self again.

“Doyoung, why would you even add star anise? He doesn't have the flu.”

“It can do more than that. Or did you just forget everything from Botany class? Oh wait, you probably never learned it because you were sleeping the whole time.”

“I didn’t need to waste half a semester learning about winter spice. I work with things that are actually powerful.”

A cracking sound, subtle yet explosive in the tense silence of the apartment, rang around them, followed by a licorice-like scent. Taeyong could see the vein tense in Doyoung’s neck. Ten was lucky that anise didn’t end up in his face but it didn’t stop him from pressing on.

“When will you learn that putting ice on everything doesn’t magically make things more powerful? You need to actually pay attention to the properties of things and what the problems are; that’s what real spell-making is.”

“Is it? And how would you know? It’s not like you’ve ever made anything to help someone. I have clients coming back all the time.”

“Yeah, using my name.”

“That’s for _your_ sake!” 

“Keep telling yourself that. It doesn’t make your identity theft any better.”

Taeyong leapt onto the table between them with a hiss so loud it made both witches recoil. He flipped around to face Ten first, meeting a shocked expression with hardened eyes.

“Taeyong?”

He hissed again.

“H-hey! Don’t use that tone with me.” He looked up to Doyoung as if asking him for help.

Doyoung, wide eyed in his own right, just shrugged a shoulder. That made Ten’s eyes narrow and Taeyong hiss again. The kitten swiped his paw in Ten’s direction. Not at him, not anywhere close, but with enough force to tell him to _‘go away’_ before he got angrier; before things could blow up more.

Ten huffed, all but stomping off and towards the kitchen. 

Then Taeyong spun around and looked at Doyoung. The raven haired witch didn’t really know what to do. Suspended in Taeyong’s gaze, he wondered if he’d be the next to be wrung out. Instead, Taeyong padded over and hopped into his arms. The top of his head rubbed against Doyoung’s jaw and he purred. 

_‘Sorry… I brought him here. I’m sorry.’_

“It’s not your fault,” Doyoung whispered, but he hugged Taeyong tighter than he probably ever had before. “It’s always like this. Always has been.” 

That didn’t make Taeyong feel any better. 

Because they lost their afternoon to fighting, they made a promise--once Taeyong was curled up on top of Doyoung’s polar bear plush--to work as long as it would take for them to come up with a prototype cure.

Ten might as well have locked his jaw with a spell considering how quiet he was for the early part of the night, and Doyoung, not being the drama-prone idiot he was in his youth, took it as a blessing and didn’t poke the bear. 

“Can you hand me that lavender stalk?” He asked, accepting it with a nod of thanks when Ten reached across the slowly boiling cauldron to give it to him. “Thanks.”

Ten grunted a reply. 

“And let's try maybe a tablespoon of spiced ginger.”

There were measuring tools at their station but Ten unscrewed the cap and dumped it in free form. 

Doyoung huffed.

“What?”

“You've always been like this. You just throw things together and expect them to come out right.”

“And you know what Doyoung? They always do.”

“Always? Is that why you brought a kitten to my doorstep?”

“Doyoung, you--” 

Taeyong cracked an eye open but the witches went silent before he even moved. 

Doyoung held a hand up between them and used the pause to take a few steadying breaths. He parted his lips to speak but Ten beat him to the ask.

“Why do you hate me so much?”

“Me?” Doyoung quirked a brow. “Why do _I_ hate _you_?” 

“That’s what I asked,” Ten snipped but was quick to catch himself. He clenched his fist at his side, letting his aggression ease out through pinprick bites of his nails into his skin, and glanced away. “That’s what it feels like. It feels like you hate me.”

“Funny,” And Doyoung even exhaled a laugh though it had no humor in it at all. “I thought you hated me.” 

Their eyes met again.

“Oh, don’t give me that look,” Doyoung continued. “You’re always coming after the work I do. You’re always insulting my character. Since we were in school all I’ve ever heard from you is how awful I am.”

“Not...all of school,” Ten muttered. He crossed his arms and turned away.

“Not all of school? When not? Because it certainly wasn’t when you were telling my Crafting partners about how stubborn I was going to be to work with, or when I found out I wasn’t voted student body president because of rumors that linked back to you.”

“Jeez, I didn’t think you’d hold such a grudge. These things happened years ago.”

“So when was it, Ten? Because I’ve put up with a lot of your bullshit to have you come into my home and say you don’t hate me.”

Each of Doyoung’s words stabbed Ten like an arrow-- precise and powerful. Doyoung laying it all out in front of him really proved Ten had been an asshole. Not without reason, not in his head at least, but maybe it wasn’t warranted either. He let out a long sigh. “Think about before that Doyoung.”

Doyoung cocked a brow.

“Our first year in high school, right before the second semester started. We’d always teased each other before then. I didn’t hate you then.”

Doyoung wasn’t quite following. Sure, he remembered those days--white and blue-tiled walls, carpeted hallways, comparing schedules to see how many of their classes lined up with one another. It always seemed like their fates were aligned in that way; always one and two, always together. “Then what changed?”

Ten sucked in a breath. That day had always hurt him, but Doyoung not remembering it might have been one hundred times more painful. He didn’t want to say. He didn’t want to own up to it. All these years he just wanted to forget. And yet, he’d never forgotten. 

He had never let it go. 

“I confessed my feelings to you and you turned me down.”

Ten squirmed in the seconds of silence that followed while Doyoung processed those words. His face scrunched like a rabbit meeting a bad carrot, like it always had done whenever he was thinking really hard. Doyoung looked away, tapping his temple as if that would call the memory back. He was really trying. Ten knew this because he wasn’t using his quick wit to shoot him down. 

Finally something must have clicked because Doyoung turned back to him, his face a mix of guarded and warm as he took tentative steps towards his answer. 

“The day in the cafe right? When you dropped a sprig of lavender into my open water bottle?”

Ten swallowed and gave a tense nod.

“I... thought you were joking. I thought it was just another one of your pranks and I...” Now Doyoung paused. He heaved a sigh, pushing a hand through his hair and rubbing at the back of his neck. “Some of your pranks were pretty painful but I could manage. But I didn’t want to take those risks with my heart. But damn, if that was real--,” he clenched his jaw. 

“Doyoung…” Ten leaned a little closer, carefully putting his weight on the small table still between them. 

“Then I really messed up, didn’t I? Because not only did I lose my chance, I hurt you, and stomped on my own heart in the process.” Doyoung choked down a sound. 

“Hey, Doyoung,” Ten slowly walked around the table but stopped halfway when the other witch turned and looked at him.

Doyoung cleared his throat. “I’m not fully going to say I’m sorry because you constantly playing jokes on me is part of the reason why I didn’t believe you in the first place. _And_ your actions when I turned you down were pretty hurtful.”

Ice ran down Ten’s spine so cold that he almost couldn’t tell if it was Doyoung casting a spell or not. He placed a hand on the table to steady himself and nodded slowly. “I...deserve that, don’t I? No, not ‘don’t I.’ I know I do.” 

“But,” Doyoung swayed his weight between both feet. “I will apologize that my misunderstanding hurt you as much as it did.” He sighed and shook his head, looking down to his abandoned cauldron still stirring itself despite how its bubbling slowed down. Then he looked to the walls, his bookshelf, towards the room where Taeyong was sleeping; thinking and thinking some more. 

Finally, attention back to Ten, he asked, “It’s been years. Can we really move past everything that’s happened?” 

“Do...you want to?” Ten asked, starting to take an uncertain step forward, pausing, and then letting his foot fall back where it was. 

“Do you?” Doyoung asked.

Ten licked over his bottom lip. “You...were probably hurt more than I was after, well, everything. So I think it’s only fair that you get to decide.”

“Oh? That’s a first for you, Ten,” a corner of Doyoung’s lips quirked upward. “Usually you’re only focused on getting your way.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes I can be a kind person I guess.” His nostrils flared with a breath. “And who says I’m still not getting my way? That is...if you want it, of course. No pressure or anything...”

“I think… It’d be nice to give it a try at least. Set everything aside and try to do something better. Something more productive.” 

“I swear, productivity has always been your middle name, Kim Doyoung,” Ten chuckled.

“Yeah?” Doyoung took the steps Ten couldn’t until he was right in front of him. He rested his hand next to Ten’s, close enough that the lines of their thumbs just barely started to press. “Then I think we should start with the most important task at hand.” He leaned in a little closer. “Saving our little kitten friend from his curse.”

At the mention of his name Taeyong ducked back behind the wall of Doyoung’s bedroom. He took quiet and careful steps back towards the bed and hopped up as neatly as he could back onto Doyoung’s big polar bear. They thought that he had been sleeping and he, sly thing he could be when he wanted to, wanted it to stay that way. 

The way their silence would be broken with soft banter and even softer giggles, though, kept Taeyong up all night. He let out a little mewl, content to listen to them all the way until the sun came up.

“Taeyong, Taeyong,” Ten rubbed over his back gently until Taeyong cracked an eye open. “We’ve got something for you to try.”

He shifted onto his feet and stretched, padded around in a circle and then sat upright, looking at them expectantly. Doyoung followed behind and took to a knee. He held a bundle between both hands, wrapped up in a white napkin and Taeyong blinked up at them expectantly. It was Ten who turned and pulled back the covering to reveal one, large purple ball of...something.

“Meow?” Taeyong’s head tilted.

“That might be a bit too big of a bite for him,” Doyoung hummed, comparing the item to the kitten. His brows furrowed. 

“I think if we break it down it should be okay, just as long as he eats it all.”

_‘Eats it all…?’_ Taeyong was suddenly having flashbacks to the awful liquid Ten made him drink only a few days earlier. He recoiled a little bit, bringing up a paw as if that could protect him.

“Oh, come now,” Ten shot towards Taeyong. “Is it really that much worse to eat something you don’t like as it is to be stuck as a cat forever?” 

Taeyong looked away, pretending to think about it until he could see the exasperation wash all over Ten’s face. Doyoung chuckled. “This cat has you in the palm of his hand, you know that, right Ten?”

“Shush… We’ll see who's in the palm of whose hand-- c’mere Taeyong,” He snatched the kitten up quickly. “Trust us, okay?” 

The first piece fell onto Taeyong’s tongue and _‘Oh god!_ did he want to spit it out but with some strong willpower, and Ten clamping his hand around Taeyong’s mouth, he managed to choke it down. 

“That big, watery eyes trick won’t work on me this time,” Ten said firmly, placing the third of four pieces into Taeyong’s mouth.

“This time?” 

“Never mind, Doyoung. Come on, Taeyong, almost there.”

Taeyong whimpered but the piece was swallowed in record time. _‘Just one more!’_ He opened his mouth wide for this one and puffed his cheeks out as he chewed. 

“There you go.” Ten carefully set Taeyong back onto the ground and scooched himself a few feet away.

Then they waited… And waited… And waited a little bit more…

Until Taeyong’s stomach started to bother him and he curled up tightly onto the floor. He let out a soft sound, something like a cry, and Ten was ready to check on him but Doyoung’s hand on his collar yanked him back. 

“Wait,” he whispered. “Watch.” 

Suddenly Taeyong’s tail was gone. An ear twitching on the top of his head went next, and the small kitten curled up on Doyoung’s bedroom carpet started to expand into a skin and bone boy with hair as gray as his kitten fur and eyes squeezed tightly shut. He took in a breath and gasped, having far more lung space he needed to fill. Also, he was completely naked.

“Oh right!” Ten snapped his fingers upon realization. “I forgot to bring his clothes.”

“I can get something-- uh, T-Taeyong, stay there for a sec!” Doyoung scrambled past the boy on his floor who was just starting to blink his eyes open and push himself upright. Ten tossed him the napkin to “cover up” and then Doyoung dropped a pile of proper clothes in front of him. “You can wear these. Here, we’ll give you your privacy. Let’s go Ten!”

“Wait, but I’ve seen him plenty of--” Doyoung shut the door behind them.

Taeyong was...disoriented. He needed a few long seconds just to look over his fingers, flex them, trail his eyes up his arms, touch his shoulders. It seemed rather surreal. The sun was up and Taeyong was here, full human. He let out a sigh, folding his body over the clothes Doyoung had given him, and whispered a soft “thank you” at the napkin once containing his cure. 

It took a few more minutes before he, somewhat swimming in the size of Doyoung’s clothing, greeted them again in the living room. “Thank you,” he said properly to his saviors. His voice still feeling rough in his throat, he cleared it a few times and said it again. “Thank you so much.”

“It’s nice to see what you’re really like,” Doyoung remarked. “Though I still haven’t fully forgiven you for spying on me.”

“That’s… That’s fair,” Pink brushed across Taeyong’s cheeks. Even in all of Ten’s insults about Doyoung he never failed to mention one thing-- Doyoung was smart. Keen wits and good at connecting the dots. No wonder he figured Taeyong’s old intentions out. “And I’ve never properly apologized for it. I am sorry. I was only curious about you.”

“You’re curious about a lot of things,” Ten chimed in and it was only then that Taeyong really realized they were sitting next to each other on Doyoung’s small couch, legs pressed together absently. He blushed harder. 

“I am, yeah. It’s kind of a bad habit I--”

His words were cut off as, well, his ability to speak (or at least speak in a language the other two could understand) left him. 

“Taeyong!” Ten dove into the clothes piled on the floor and Doyoung rushed back to his work station, checking on the ingredients they’d used. 

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” Ten cooed as he unearthed the small gray kitten and held him to his chest. “Guess it’s our turn to apologize, we were so sure it’d worked…”

Taeyong looked up to Ten with wide, sad eyes but then hung his head. He understood. At least they tried.

“No, no, I don’t think we did anything wrong though,” Doyoung muttered as he passed them, going to the big spell book Taeyong had toppled over on his first day here. He flipped open to a page in the middle and started swiping through. “There’s no way. I wouldn’t make a mistake.”

“Are you saying I could?” Ten asked, indignant, crossing over to the other. He had to push onto the balls of his feet to peer over Doyoung’s shoulder, reading over the same lines. Then they paused and blinked up to one another in time. Doyoung rose a brow, Ten nodded, and then they split apart so Taeyong could be set down on the floor again. 

The kitten meowed loudly, tilting his head.

“Taeyong, I want you to listen to me, okay?” Doyoung instructed. Taeyong meowed again. “I need you to think about being a human. Really think about it, all the way down to what it feels like to have ten fingers and toes. Does that make sense?”

_‘No,’_ Taeyong huffed. He and Ten had tried this before, what would be the difference now? But Ten’s quiet encouragement at Doyoung’s side made his chest feel fluttery, and since these two had stayed up all night to help him, the least he could do was try. So he closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could, letting his tail still and his paws curl. Fingers and toes. Fingers and toes.

“Oh!” Taeyong gasped, eyes shooting open to see he was facing the floor on all fours. He looked up at the other two in shock. 

“It worked!” Ten threw his arms around Taeyong’s broad shoulders.

“Clothes, Ten. Clothes.” Doyoung quickly gathered them up again and brought them over. Taeyong took them with a nod of thanks but brought them to his lap to cover himself up rather than put them on right away. 

“So...does this mean I have to always be thinking about being a human or else I’ll be a cat?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Ten had started but he turned to Doyoung for confirmation.

“I think it’s more like you have control now. Cat or human, it’s your choice. You just have to use your willpower to make it happen.”

Taeyong took another look at himself. His own willpower? He wanted to try, but more than anything he just wanted to relish being a human for a while. “I’ll give it a go tomorrow-- Or, well, maybe I could come back tomorrow to try? I, uh…” It hadn’t occurred to him how weird it would be for him to stick around now that he was no longer pet or familiar. He didn’t need them anymore and then likely no longer needed him. Taeyong wasn’t prepared for how sad that would make him. 

And then Ten asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

“I still need a familiar. I haven’t beaten this dude’s ass yet and gotten my apprenticeship. Your side of our bargain isn’t over.”

“It’s... not?”

“No way. Cat or not, I’m putting you to work, slave.”

“Slave?!”

“Now, now,” Doyoung interjected, putting a hand on Ten and Taeyong’s shoulder. “Don’t forget, I get something out of this deal now. I’m half the reason you’re cured.”

Taeyong tried to channel his best kitten eyes when he turned to Doyoung. “You’re joking...right?”

Doyoung smirked.

x

Playing familiar to two witches was not easy work. Which wasn’t to say Taeyong expected it to be, but both Doyoung and Ten had such specific sets of ingredients that if he wasn’t busy burying his nose in a variety of dirt and snow patches to find the right things, he was taking hours at the market trying to buy two grocery lists of things that could’ve easily been combined into one.

Taeyong huffed as he maneuvered the door open with his foot and his shoulder, two baskets occupying either arm. “I still don’t believe that both of you need 8 sprigs of lavender and that you can’t share,” he asked, still squinting thanks to the flower that poked him in the eye when Ten’s skull friend had jumped out to greet him on his way up. 

There was no answer so Taeyong continued his grumbling. “ _And_ I don’t believe that Ten has twigs that Doyoung can’t use and vice versa. Haven’t you ever heard of conserving resources? One day you’ll run out so don’t come crying to me when-- Where are you?” Taeyong finally freed himself of the baskets, setting them both on top of Ten’s kitchen counter. “Hey!”

“Hm?” Ten poked his head out from the bedroom, full bare neck and collarbone visible. “You’re home earlier this time!”

Taeyong’s whole face turned red. “I-... I tried to get back faster because you both teased me last time for taking longer as a human than I do as a cat and, and, i-if I interrupted something I can just-- Hey, wait,” he had started hiding behind his hands but then they balled into fists and fell to his sides. “No fair,” He whined, “You two always get _friendly_ when I’m gone!”

Doyoung stepped up behind Ten, also clearly without a shirt on. “That doesn’t mean we can’t get friendly with you once you’re back,” he offered with a simple shrug. 

“Yeah, exactly!” Ten had put his hand over the one Doyoung had placed on his shoulder but then was quick to step away and throw his arms around Taeyong.

“N-not yet, hold on, I’m still sweaty.”

And then Doyoung was at his other side, arms around Taeyong and Ten both. Before he knew it he had two pairs of lips on his cheek. 

Taeyong loved it truly. He loved being teased by them, loved the way they unashamedly poked fun at him any and all chances they could. He loved the way they had come together, how they had successfully set their past behind them and found all the right ways to balance their competition, their smugness, and their love. He loved how warmly they let him slot himself into their romance. He loved it-- but not like this!

Taeyong let out a yelp, Ten and Doyoung all but crashed into each other as the human between them poofed into a surprised cat. 

“Oh, Taeyongie,” Ten cooed after he patted the part of Doyoung’s cheek he hit and kissed it better. He knelt down, gathering Taeyong up, clothes and all, into his arms and then resumed pressing himself against Doyoung’s chest. “Hurry up and come back so we can all have fun together.” 

Taeyong first looked to Doyoung for help and then shyly buried his head into the crook of Ten’s neck. It was futile--and truthfully, Taeyong was okay with that. Because once they pulled him out of his shy shell and back into human form he knew they’d have fun together. _A lot_ of fun.

And that night, after Doyoung had peeled away to properly store all the things that needed to be refrigerated or frozen from Taeyong’s adventure earlier, he settled comfortably between them. Familiarly between them, even, as a cat whose curiosity got the best of him and brought out the best outcome. Truly it’s as they say, isn’t it? Taeyong hugged Doyoung and Ten’s arms to his chest. Satisfaction. It brought them back. 

Together.

**Author's Note:**

> All my thank you's <3
> 
> Thank you to NCTOT3 for hosting this fest!  
> Thank you to E for really being the driving force being his fic (and the reason it's cleaned up)  
> Thank you my reader for reading!
> 
> I'd love to hear what you thought! Find me in the comments, on Twitter @ChibiKadaj, or cc @chibixkadaj <3


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